Tumbler holder



Nov. 7, 1950 E. c. GARWOOD TUMBLER HOLDER Filed Sept. 6, 1946 1 I I19 20 I I I L v V 17 mm 12 2; 9 25 25 q 151"" 18 ERNEST c. GJ XRWOOD Patented Nov. 7, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TUMBLER HOLDER Ernest C. Garwood, Wilmington, Del. Application September 6, 1946, Serial No. 695,115

This invention relates to an improved support for containers such as drinking glasses of the tumbler type. More particularl it-relates to a support or rack upon which one or more tumblers may be secured inan inverted position.

' In domestic and restaurant kitchens, taprooms, bathrooms and in other places where drinking glasses are kept, it is' common practice to'store them in an upright position on shelves, trays Or the like. In this-position, dust and germs can easily enter the" glasses. 'In addition, they are susceptible to breakage "by being bumped or jarred, as there is ordinarily no means of securingthem in place. Furthermore, if the glasses are washedbut not dried, as is often the case in tap-rooms, there is no opportunity for residual water to drain out.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple andinexpensive-supportfor holding tumblers in an inverted position, thus preventing the collection of dust and-permitting free drainage of any liquid inthe tumblers. It is a further object to provide means for holding tumblers securely in the inverted position so as to minimize breakage and chipping. Still further objects will be apparent from the more complete description of my invention which follows.

These and other objects are accomplished by the use of the novel support which is herein described and which ispictured' in the accompanying drawings. One element of this support consists of two-wire loops, the" adjacent arms of which are joined at their lower end and which form a spring-'bracket -into which the cylindrical wall of the tumbler may be inserted and secured. The two loops lie in planes which are displaced at a small angle from one another and which converge toward the upper ends of the loop. The adjacent arms of the Wire loops diverge laterally at their upper ends to provide a resilient gripping means for the wall of the tumbler, and are angularly disposed at this point so that the gripping points lie in a diametral plane of the tumbler when it is in place. When the tumbler is in position, one of the wire loops is disposed inside and the other outside of the tumbler. Other supporting means are also provided which are attached to the first supporting element and which may consist of a substantially horizontal wire member or may be a second spring bracket formed between the other arm of the internally disposed wire loop and an arm of a secondary externally disposed loop, My tumbler support may be better Iundersto by reference to the drawings, which illustrate 3 Claims. (01. 211- 75) one possible arrangement, adapted to support three tumblers. Figure 1 shows a plan elevation view of the support, Figure 2 a plan view and Figure '3 aside elevation view. Tumblers in position are shown by dotted lines at I, 2 and 3. The entire support is madefrom a single wire 9, from which is formed the three vertical loops 4, 5 and BiWhich are intended to rest inside the tumblers, and'the external loops land 8, which lie in a plane which is slightly displaced from the vertical. A typical gripping bracket is formed between arm II! of internal loop 4 and arm I I of external loop 1. These arms connect at their lower extremities in bend I2 (shown in Fig. 3) and diverge laterally toward their upper ends, while the planesof the two loops converge the upper ends of. the loops, so that at some point such as I3, the arms mutually bear on the wall of a supported tumbler. Similar gripping points are formed by other loop arms as at I4, I5 and I6: These gripping points are preferably so placed as to lie in a diametral plane of the tumbler when in position.

The outside arms I9 and 29 of loops 4 and 6 are bent backward at their lower ends to form substantially horizontal supporting members I! and I8, which connect the loop portion of the support to its mounting. The support may be mounted to a wall by lugs ZI and 22 which are attached to the wire.

It will be seen that tumbler I is supported securely in an inverted position by inserting its wall between loop'arms' I0 and II until its edge is supported by horizontal member I! and bend I2 and its wall is gripped by arms Illand I I at point I3. If desired, bend I2 may be on a lower plane than supporting member I! so that the tumbler does not come in contact with bend I2, but is supported entirely by member I I and by the gripping bracket formed from loop arms I0 and II. It is also unnecessary that supporting member I! be horizontal as shown, as it may for example be disposed so as to slope downwardly from the mounting toward loop arm I9.

Tumbler 3 is supported and secured similarly by the gripping bracket formed at point I6 and by supporting member I8 and bend 23.

Tumbler 2 is supported on bends 24 and 25 and is gripped at points I4 and I5. Loop 5 lies entirely within the inverted tumbler, while loops 1 and 8 are outside it.

It will readily be apparent that the support may be adapted to hold any desired number of tumblers by increasing or decreasing the number of loops and, consequently, the number of gripping brackets. To support a single tumbler, one internal and one external loop might be employed, or if preferred one internal and two external loops might be used so as to give two gripping brackets, which would support the tumbler in a manner similar to that shown for tumbler 2 in the drawing.

Two tumblers may conveniently be supported by the use of two internal and one external loops, as if in the drawing loops 5 and 8 were omitted, leaving only loops 4, 6 and I. If it is desired to support a greater number of tumblers than three, extra loops may be inserted so as to secure the added tumblers in the same manner astumbler 2, by two gripping brackets each. Instead of increasing the number of loops in a single support, however, it may be preferred to employ a series of supports, each adapted to hold two or three tumblers.

Supports of this type may be employed in various arrangements and need not be disposed in line ,asshown. For example, the loops might be mounted around a circular wire, which mightbe suspended or, might have legs to permit the support to stand on a shelf or table. Various other arrangements will readily suggest themselves to workers in the art.

In many cases, it will be found convenient to mount the support just above a dripepan of any conventional type to carry away any draining liquid.

The support may be constructed of any stout resilient wire or may be made of some suitable plastic composition. If made of wire, a metal should be chosen which is rust-proof, such as galvanized iron, stainlesssteel, bronze or the like.

While for the sake of clarity I have described and illustrated a specific embodiment of my novel tumbler support, it is to be understood that many others are possible and withinthe spirit of my invention, the scope of which is not to belimited except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A support for holding a tumbler in an inyerted position comprising a spring bracket formed by the adjacent downward depending arms of two loops, one ofwhich loops lies in a substantially vertical plane and the other of which loops lies in a plane displacedat a small angle from the vertical and converging with the plane of the vertical loop toward the upperends of the loops, said adjacent arms connecting with one another at their lower ends through a bend lying in a substantially vertical plane whichgis substantially perpendicular to the vertical loop,

said adjacent arms diverging laterally toward their upper ends away from'each other and from the plane of the bend to form a resilient gripping member into which the cylindrical wall of the tumbler is adapted to be inserted; and a second spring bracket of the same character as the first formed between the other arm of the vertical loop and the adjacent arm of a second loop lying in a plane displaced at a small angle from the vertical and'convergingfwith the plane of the vertical loop toward the'upper ends of the loops, said arms connecting at their lower ends and diverging at their upper ends in the same manner as the arms forming the first spring bracket.

2. A support for holding a tumbler in an inverted position comprising a spring bracket ,formed bythe adjacent downward depending oneanotherzat their lower ends through a bend lying in a substantially vertical plane which is substantially perpendicular to the vertical loop, saidadjacent arms diverging laterally toward their upper ends away from each, other and -f-rom the plane of the bend to forma resilient gripping member into which the cylindrical wall of the tumbler is adapted to be inserted, the lateral displacement of the arms and the angular relation of the planes of the loopsbeingsuch that the respective gripping points'of the two arms lie in a diametral plane of the tumbler; and an additional supporting member attached to the spring bracket. r

V 3. A support as defined in claim 2 wherein the additional supporting member is a substantially horizontal rod. yq V r I. ERNEST c. GARWOOD.

REEEirnNoEs CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Number e, Name Date 378,407 Strauss Feb. 21, 1888 1,108,055v Wolfe Aug. l8, 1914 1276, 119 Sandburg Aug. 20, 1918 1,701,783 .Law Feb. 12, 1929 1,835,726 Thompson Dec. 8, 1931 2,230,975, 1941 

